


Paint me like one of your french girls

by nihasimp



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Artist AU, College AU, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mostly comfort though, and i love them, they love eachother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:20:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25524268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nihasimp/pseuds/nihasimp
Summary: Adora had never quite seen her art studio in this manner, it was a mess; there were paintbrushes scattered around her stool, paints of all different colours had dried on her white hardwood floor and the girl she liked was draped across her sofa covered solely by a fuzzy maroon blanket.
Relationships: Adora & Catra (She-Ra), Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 121





	Paint me like one of your french girls

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a fic trade with a friend :')) The prompts were: art studio, superheroes and rival students competing for a scholarship.

It was a warm autumns evening, behind the looming, off-white curtains, the sun was setting peacefully in the yellow and red sky.

Adora had never quite seen her art studio in this manner, it was a mess; there were paintbrushes scattered around her stool, paints of all different colours had dried on her white hardwood floor and the girl she liked was draped across her sofa covered solely by a fuzzy maroon blanket. 

Adora stepped into the room, ready for another few hours of hearing the complaints and the woes of her best friend. The tepid, orange sunlight accentuated Catra’s brown fur and her piercing blue and green eyes. For the first time in many years, she looked relaxed. 

“Adora! You’re back!” 

Catra sat up, adjusting the blanket to keep herself decently covered. Her tail poked through the side of the blanket, wrapping itself over the covering, and her ears relaxed. The pupils of her heterochromatic eyes dilated as she looked at Adora. The blonde smiled towards the chilled cat girl on her couch, tying her stained painters’ smock around her body. 

“Are you ready for another three hours of painting?” Adora asked, turning around slightly, and brandishing her new brushes between her fingers, “These ones are brand new! They’re imported from Bright moon, Glimmer gave them to me this morning!” 

Catra let out a long groan, slowly sliding down the couch on her back. After nineteen years or so of knowing each other, it was common knowledge that Catra wasn’t the most patient person in Etheria. 

The blonde girl looked behind her towards the sulking girl, picking up brushes with dried acrylic paint hardening on them and propelling them towards her. Catra yelped, grabbing the blanket, and attempting to dodge the onslaught of brushes. Several brushes barely zoomed past Catra’s head and, after an especially precise throw, one hit her square in the forehead.

“Stop that!” She screeched, raising a hand to her forehead to rub it.

Did she stop? No. 

Was she going to stop? Probably not.

Much to Catra’s disappointment, the bombardment continued raining down on her. Catra hissed and grabbed her grey robe from the side of the sofa, slipping it on quickly and tying a knot at the front. 

Adora smiled to the other girl and tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear, that should’ve lifted her spirits a little. Adora sat on her stool in front of her canvas eyeing it up; it was easily going to be one of her best paintings, each unfinished brushstroke showed the intense feelings she felt – though she hoped that it wasn’t too obvious. It was a depiction of Catra, bundled up in the thick, maroon blanket. Her short, chestnut brown hair framed her face. She was looking over to Adora slightly and a light smile played on her face. Adora took a sharp breath in. 

She looked breath-taking.

Adora felt a pair of hands slide across her shoulders and a fluffy face land on the top of her head. 

“I look so – weak.” Catra let out a short hiss, “Why did I let you do this to me?” 

Adora reached up and messed up Catra’s hair. It was short and scraggy; she’d recently cut it after an especially boring evening and she had surprised Adora with it when they saw each other the next day. It was pretty safe to assume that Adora had liked the new look, given the fact that she lay awake for hours that night trying to register the new haircut and mumbling to herself about how pretty Catra had looked that day. 

“Because you wanted to paint She-ra for your portfolio-“ Adora smirks and adds on, “- and because you like her.”

Catra had always taken a liking to Adora’s secret identity, She-ra. Who could blame her? She-ra was an absolute unit. Standing at around 8 feet tall, she was a beast of muscle and hair. The day she revealed her alter ego to Catra and transformed into She-ra in front of her, Catra was stuck in awe for at least half an hour and the bumbling, blushing mess she became afterwards was worth sharing her secret identity for. It was a near and dear memory for Adora.

A light blush appeared onto Catra’s face and took an audible breath inwards. “No, I don’t! This ISN’T because I like her! Because I don’t! It’s just because I want that grant,” Catra whipped her face off of Adora’s hair and used her hands to shove the girl’s face further from her. 

Adora laughed until the realisation hit her, her eyes widened, and her mouth went dry. The grant. That was the problem, the obvious issue that they didn’t really want to address. Neither Adora nor Catra came from the nicest households, this grant would change one of their lives, it would give them a chance of leaving all the maltreatment behind and starting anew in a positive environment. Catra took note of this sudden change in the atmosphere and she smiled cautiously.

“You know that no matter who gets the grant we’ll always be best friends, right?” 

Adora stiffened. She didn’t reply. There was one grant, two of them. Adora didn’t really know what would happen once they’d get their letter. 

“Adora?” 

She couldn’t look at Catra, they’d ‘fought’ for this scholarship for years. She knew their relationship wouldn’t be impacted as they’d come too far to have it be broken so easily. However, realistically, Adora knew one of them would have to deal with years of either crippling debt or of disappointment. She didn’t want to see Catra go through that, not with Shadow Weaver already treating her like human trash. 

“Do you really think I’d just stop supporting you if you got the grant?” 

Still no reply. 

“Adora.”

Catra’s eyes widened, pupils constricting, and her tail stiffening, “Let’s just get this over with.” She sat on the couch again and threw the blanket over her own body, not taking her robe off this time. She was angrier than before; she was more restless, and her tail was whacking the couch rapidly.

Adora squeezed some paint on her pallet and dipped one of her new brushes into the pile of paint aggressively. In an attempt to add details onto her painting, she’d occasionally steal glances towards Catra’s figure and it was easy to tell that she was still angry. Catra’s foot tapped the floor impatiently, the tempo increasing as the seconds passed. The silence was awkward and uncomfortable, they didn’t argue often but in the rare occasion where they would argue, neither of them would let it escalate this far. She lowered her brush and stared at the painting. 

It was mocking her. 

Adora recognised the feline’s features on the canvas. Yet it was a different Catra to the one in front of her. The girl’s eyes, that had previously held so much serenity and softness, held an anger that Adora had never seen before. 

Adora didn’t like this at all. Was this worth this tension? 

She lifted her brush up, trying to focus on the painting itself rather than on Catra. The painting taunted her, she couldn’t do it, it was as she was. Adora’s hand dropped back onto her lap, the paint on the brush splattering onto her smock and a sigh of despair escaping from her lips.

Nothing in her was working. She couldn’t get her hand to cooperate. She couldn’t get her brain to focus. She couldn’t work with Catra’s cold face staring straight past her.

She was desperate for this to be over.

“Adora.” Catra pleads, “For once, just, think about yourself. Please.” She strains it out, with a pained face, her lip shaking slightly and her eyes squinting.

Adora put her hand over her mouth and she felt tears brimming at the edges of her eyes. She tried to get words out, but she couldn’t. Deep down she knew Catra cared but hearing the support straight from her mouth hit her differently. 

It was like she’d swallowed a rock, she only sat with her mouth half open – looking towards Catra through glossy eyes.

Catra opened the blanket slightly, beckoning Adora into the warm safety, “Here... let’s take another break.” Adora nodded and clumsily got up from her stool. As soon as she was close enough, Adora crashed into Catra’s open arms.

Catra threw the blanket over Adora and pulled her closer, wrapping her arms around her. Adora adjusted herself so that she was holding one of Catra hands. It was a tender moment. Catra propped her head onto Adora’s shoulder, a small sign of support saying, I’m here. 

They stayed like this for a while, neither of them wanting to lose this moment. 

As the time passed, Adora felt more and more calm, all previous anxieties leaving her with each tired breath. With each slow blink, Adora felt reality slowly slipping from her fingers. She felt safe, protected, warm; gradually drifting to sleep. Her head fell to the side and sat on top of Catra’s own, it was nice. It was warm and Catra smelt like home.

Catra glanced down to their intertwined fingers, she was never used to how calloused Adora’s hands were. Her fingers traced the callouses on the other girl’s fingers and knuckles, each mark was associated with a memory from their lives growing up together.

From their late-night trips to their secret hiding spaces where they’d have to climb old buildings, to the days after classes where they’d go to Lonnie’s room to play their guitars together and watch movies, or even when She-ra was needed in town, and Catra stood by her side to help her transform in her hardest times. They were inseparable, where one would go, the other would follow. It wasn’t a bad thing, it was quite the contrary. To Catra these moments were the most important memories for her. 

She always had a feeling that Adora would be the one to get the grant and quite honestly, she never really cared much for art, she’d always cared about who was taking it. However, she wouldn’t dream of ever tellling Adora that she only stayed in the art course because of her, terrified of the teasing she’d receive from the other party and in fear of seeing Adora’s face coated with disappointment as she realised the truth. Catra looked up to the girl’s face, her blonde hair fell over her eyes. She lifted her head slightly and placed a light kiss on Adora’s cheek.

She continued to look towards the girls sleeping face, her heart rate increasing and a light red blush appearing on her cheeks. Embarrassment rapidly overcame her; she shut her eyes tightly and shoved her face back into Adora’s shoulder.

They wouldn’t say it out loud, a fear of changing what they had, but they loved each other more than they could ever imagine.

But for now, they didn’t need to tell each other and simply knowing they’re there to support each other would do.

It’d do quite nicely.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this please leave a comment or kudos, I'd really appreciate it!


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